In remarks to the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about the importance of jazz in paving the way for the Civil Rights Movement.
Category Archives: Advocacy
Elegy for Martin Luther King
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on this day in 1929.
Is Jazz Healthy?
The Jazz Connect Conference, organized by JazzTimes and the Jazz Forward Coalition, was held January 8-9, 2015, in New York City and led into the annual Association of Performing Arts Presenters Conference, as well as Winter Jazzfest. The Jazz Connect Conference featured a series of workshops, panels discussions, and keynote address by Philly-native Christian McBride.
West Philly’s Main Street
West Philly’s Main Street, 52nd Street, is a historic cultural and commercial corridor that stretches from Arch Street to the north and Baltimore Avenue to the south.
In a 2012 interview with Hidden City Philadelphia, Shirley Randleman, then-president of the 52nd Street Business Association, recounted:
Oh, it was wonderful. It was a thriving commercial corridor surrounded by a neighborhood that was financially stable. The 52nd Street corridor had five movie theaters, many high-end clothing stores, and eateries like Horn & Hardart, with the nickel automats. There were bakeries, doctor’s offices, and independent stores, like Buster Brown shoes. 52nd Street was the entertainment capital of West Philadelphia, AKA “the Strip,” and every top notch entertainer found his way there. It was more than just shops; it was the community meeting place. People were engaged in conversations in every shop and on the streets. We lived together.
In the 1960s and ‘70s, 52nd Street, aka “the Strip,” was the place to see and be seen. Celebrities including Muhammad Ali, Cab Calloway, Billy Eckstine, Joe Frazier, Teddy Pendergrass, Stevie Wonder, and members of the Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies hung out at Mr. Silk’s 3rd Base.
Everyone ordered mammer jammer sandwiches at Foo Foo’s Steak House. Top jazz musicians performed at the Aqua Lounge. Etta James and Jackie “Moms” Mabley graced the stage of the State Theatre in April 1963.
For more risqué entertainment, one could go to the Pony Tail and watch go-go girls bend over and “shake a tail feather.”
Lee Morgan’s historical marker was installed at 52nd and Chancellor streets in front of the former location of the Aqua Lounge (now African Cultural Art Forum) on International Jazz Day 2024.
Join All That Philly Jazz Director Faye Anderson for a stroll along 52nd Street. The walk and talk will start at Malcolm X Memorial Park and end at the Red Rooster.
The most recent 52nd Street Stroll was held on Saturday, October 5, 2024.
Ridge Avenue
During Philadelphia’s golden age of jazz, there were jazz clubs in every neighborhood. There were so many clubs that folks in North Philly didn’t go to joints in South Philly and vice versa. There was a handful of clubs that reached legendary status and attracted patrons from all over the city. The Blue Note at 15th Street and Ridge Avenue was “the town’s swankiest jazz emporium.”
From 15th Street to Columbia Avenue (later renamed Cecil B. Moore Avenue), Ridge Avenue was a jazz corridor where legends-in-the-making roamed.
What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?
Joey DeFrancesco was born in 1971 in Springfield, Pennsylvania. He was born into a musical family that included three generations of jazz musicians. He was named after his grandfather, Joseph DeFrancesco, a jazz musician who played the saxophone and clarinet. His father, “Papa” John DeFrancesco, was an organist who played nationally and received the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame’s Living Legend Award in 2013.
DeFrancesco began playing the organ at the age of 4 and was playing songs by Jimmy Smith verbatim by the time he was 5. His father John began bringing him to gigs from the age of 5, letting him sit in on sets. At the age of 10, DeFrancesco joined a band in Philadelphia that included jazz legends Hank Mobley and Philly Joe Jones. He was considered a fixture at local jazz clubs, opening shows for Wynton Marsalis and B.B. King.
DeFrancesco attended the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. During his high school years, DeFrancesco won numerous awards, including the Philadelphia Jazz Society McCoy Tyner Scholarship. He was also a finalist in the first Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition.
All That Philly Jazz 